Portland stabbing: Video shows racist rant day before attack

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Latest on fatal stabbings in Portland:

4:50 p.m.

Cellphone video shows the suspect in the deadly stabbings of two men who intervened in an anti-Muslim rant against two young women on a Portland train going on a racist tirade a day earlier.

Police Sgt. Pete Simpson confirmed Monday that video from a passenger posted by TV station KOIN shows Jeremy Joseph Christian, who’s accused of murder and other counts in Friday’s attack.

In the video taken Thursday, Christian uses expletives as he rants about Muslims, Christians and Jews. At one point, he threatens to stab the driver of the train. He also rails against police and taxes.

Simpson says police also are investigating an incident that day involving Christian and a black woman on the train but didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking additional details.

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2:20 p.m.

The mayor of Portland is calling on the federal government and organizers to cancel a “Trump Free Speech Rally” and other events next weekend after the fatal stabbing of two people who confronted a man hurling racial slurs at two young women on a train.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said Monday that the community is sad and angry, and the rallies are inappropriate and could be dangerous. He says his main concern is participants are “coming to peddle a message of hatred.”

Wheeler said the three men who intervened on the train Friday were willing to give their lives to stand up for people they didn’t know.

He says he hopes their actions inspire “changes in the political dialog in this country” and that people put aside their hate and honor the victims.

KGW reported that the ACLU of Oregon director Mat dos Santos responded to Wheeler’s request, and said “government censorship is not the answer.”

“We must defend the constitution, even when it is uncomfortable,” he tweeted.

Wheeler had said while people have a First Amendment right to speak, “My pushback on that is hate speech is not protected under the U.S. Constitution.”

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10:10 a.m.

The mother of one of the girls who was the target of a hate-filled rant against Muslims on a Portland train says she’s overwhelmed with gratitude and sadness for the strangers who were stabbed to death when they came to her daughter’s defense.

Dyjuana Hudson posted a photo on her Facebook page of Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, saying: “Thank you thank you thank you… You will always be our hero.”

Authorities say Meche and Ricky John Best were killed Friday trying to stop Jeremy Joseph Christian from harassing Hudson’s daughter, Destinee Mangum, and her friend. The friend was wearing a hijab.

Christian was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, intimidation and being a felon in possession of a handgun.
 
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9:50 a.m.

President Donald Trump is condemning the fatal stabbing of two good Samaritans trying to help two young women targeted by an anti-Muslim rant in Portland.
 
Trump tweeted Monday: “The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them.”

The attacks came on a light rail train on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest time of year for Muslims.

Police identified the dead as 53-year-old Ricky John Best of Happy Valley, Oregon, and 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche of Portland. Mayor Ted Wheeler said Best was an Army veteran and a city employee.

Police have arrested Jeremy Joseph Christian in connection with the killings and say they’re looking at his extremist ideology